XDA

Thoughts on politics, law, culture and guns from an eclectic, but mainly center-right point of view

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

The Real Democratic Position on Iraq

Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), a Majority Whip, made some statements yesterday that perhaps he regrets in the cold light of morning. As reported in the Washington Post, Clyburn said, "a strongly positive report on progress on Iraq by Army Gen. David Petraeus likely would split Democrats in the House and impede his party's efforts to press for a timetable to end the war." Clyburn also said that positive news from Iraq would be a real big problem for us. The 'us' in the previous statement was the Democrats.

So let's review: Good news of success of our military forces in Iraq is a real big problem for the Democrats.

This Day in the History of Devastating Military Incompetence

On this day in 1917, the Battle of Passchendaele (Third Ypres) begins in Belgium, Brits and Colonials versus German troops, and continues until November 10. Nearly 750,000 soldiers on both sides died or were seriously wounded for the gain of mere meters of territory on the Western Front. The tactics in WWI (similarly to the American Civil War) had not evolved in light of technological changes (the machine gun and quick loading, large caliber artillery) yet the generals kept up massed charges until millions had died on the battlefield. Verdun was a heroic slaughter; the Somme a sad waste; Passchendaele was just a crime.

Thought of the Day

Monday, July 30, 2007

Good News from Iraq

No, not the 1-0 soccer defeat of local powerhouse Saudi Arabia, but the fact that two left of center Brookings types have an op-ed in the New York Times which sees (at last) the actual progress that is occurring in Iraq. The title: A War We Just Might Win. I will remind die hard Democrat defeatists who doubt the news and opinions of Mr. O'Hanlon and Mr. Pollack (big time Bush critics) that our source was the New York Times. Money quote:

Here is the most important thing Americans need to understand: We are finally getting somewhere in Iraq, at least in military terms. As two analysts who have harshly criticized the Bush administration’s miserable handling of Iraq, we were surprised by the gains we saw and the potential to produce not necessarily “victory” but a sustainable stability that both we and the Iraqis could live with.

This Day in American History

On this day in 1619, more than a year before the crazy Pilgrims set foot on Cape Cod, the House of Burgesses, the first representative assembly in America, convened in Jamestown, Virginia. My dad, by way of personal history, was elected to this body shortly after WWII, and he was one of the youngest to be so elected. He told me that the Democrats in that body, in the late 1940s, had to caucus in the rather large assembly hall, while the Republicans used to caucus in his hotel room. Shoe's kinda on the other foot now.

Sunday, July 29, 2007

This Day in the History of Evil

On this day in 1921 Adolf Hitler became the President of the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, National Socialist German Workers' Party, known to the Germans at the time as the NSDAP but known to the rest of the world as the Nazis. They were lefties, national socialists as opposed to the international socialists of Marxist-Leninist thought, the Communists. Like all lefties, the Nazis were not adverse to totalitarian rule and were directly responsible for the political murder of millions, most of them Jews. During the 20th Century, the left murdered well in excess of a hundred million, the right barely in excess of a hundred thousand. No one has yet provided to me a benign reason for such a one-sided butchers' bill. I am left, in the absence of any other rational explanation, with the inescapable conclusion that lefty thinking is inherently dangerous and can far too easily become wholly evil.

Friday, July 27, 2007

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

Back, and a little tired. Drove 2035 miles in the Coupe d' Hog and saw but very little of the South until the trees all went away in West Texas, just east of Abilene. I have to admit I like flying better.

This Day in American History (twofer)

On this day in 1861, Union General George B. McClellan was put in command of the Army of the Potomac. There wasn't the possibility of a better move for the South short of unconditional surrender by the North.

And on this day in 1953, a cease fire/truce was declared in the Korean War. That war continues and P'yŏngyang is overdue for a nuclear strike--a small one.

This Day in American History

On this day in 1701, French trader Antoine de la Moth, Sieyur de Cadillac, founds the town of Detroit to control the fur trade in the region. The name was originally La Ville d'Etroit, but we dropped the apostrophe faster than a bad girlfriend. My favorite story about Detroit was from a black Marine in Viet Nam who related that all the white officers would say, after they learned he was from Detroit, silly things like, DEE-troit, or Motor City, and they they would laugh. The Marine shook his head and said, "Ain't nothing special about Detroit--ain't nothing too funny about it, neither."

Thought of the Day

Friday, July 20, 2007

This Day in the History of Historical Distractions

On this day in 1914, the sensational trial of Madame Henriette Caillaux began in Paris. She was being tried for the murder of Gaston Calmette, editor of the newspaper Le Figaro, whom she had shot at 6 times with four hitting home. Calmette had repeatedly threatened to publish the love letters of Caillaux's husband, Joseph Caillaux, a cabinet member and former Prime Minister of France. The trial lasted 8 days and resulted in the acquittal of Madame Caillaux for a crime of passion. The day of the verdict, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia and the Great War had begun.

Thought of the Day

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Waiting for Justice

The serial liars Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson have suffered a series of defeats in the past few years. After a ton of hoopla, no one was indicted for leaking Ms. Plame's job, and Scooter Libby, who was convicted peripherally for perjury and obstruction, got his sentence commuted by the President. Today the Wilson/Plame's silly lawsuit against Vice President Cheney, Scooter Libby, Carl Rove and Richard Armitage (who was gossiping about where Valerie worked to Bob Woodward and Robert Novak, who published it) for a 'civil rights' violation for revealing where she worked, was dismissedtoday in total by a federal district judge. Now if they would only indict Plame for lying to Congress, a lot of us would feel better about our justice department and Justice in a higher sense would be served. I think I'm probably just dreaming about that last bit.

There were a lot or problems with the lawsuit and Judge John D. Bates only acted on a few of them.

The final thing to go wrong recently for the cute couple is the CIA has refused to give Valerie permission to publish a book about her stirring adventures as a blond spy. Having bitched and moaned so much about the revelations of her job, the CIA leadership can't now say, OK she can reveal everything she wants. She's had to sue the CIA to let her reveal more than just who she worked for. Personally, I think the woman is suit happy. That lawsuit seems a real longshot too.

UPDATE: Dafydd ab Hugh over at Big Lizards Blog has a good posting regarding what really could be the end of the Plame Affaire. He has just the right amount of snark. Witness:

Naturally. Armitage, a virulent opponent of the Iraq invasion and protege of then-Secretary of State Colin Powell (another outspoken opponent), was seeking "retribution" against Lyin' Joe Wilson for defaming the Bush administration -- over the Iraq invasion that Armitage despised!We all know there is one and only one reason that Armitage was added to the lawsuit: because he is the only person known actually to have leaked her name to the press; and it would look pretty stupid -- even for a Democrat -- to file a lawsuit against three people who Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald did not claim leaked her name, but not against the one person who Fitzgerald did say leaked her name.

I keep hearing, even now, from Democrats (like Craig Silverman) that they believe Dick Cheney conspired with Rove to punish Joe Wilson for telling the truth about Niger yellowcake by revealing his wife's job at a desk a CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. But the people who actually know about who leaked what to whom, know it was just gossip and not any conspiracy, and further, that Joe Wilson did not tell the truth about Niger yellowcake. Everyone can have their own opinion, but no one gets to have their own facts.

Plame lawsuit dismissed.........but......

WASHINGTON (AP) - A federal judge on Thursday dismissed former CIA operative Valerie Plame's lawsuit against members of the Bush administration in the CIA leak scandal.Plame, the wife of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, had accused Vice President Dick Cheney and others of conspiring to leak her identity in 2003. Plame said that violated her privacy rights and was illegal retribution for her husband's criticism of the administration.U.S. District Judge John D. Bates dismissed the case on jurisdictional grounds and said he would not express an opinion on the constitutional arguments. Bates dismissed the case against all defendants: Cheney, White House political adviser Karl Rove and former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.Plame's attorneys had said the lawsuit would be an uphill battle. Public officials are normally immune from such lawsuits filed in connection with their jobs.

My Evening with Gay Prostitute Mike Jones

In a so far elusive campaign to win a big $40 off our bar tab at various pub trivia contests, my team, such as it is, is now called Suburban Gay Sex because a few of the original members were, well, homosexual (not that there's anything wrong with that) and good guys who are friends with my oldest daughter. I can do OK on history, general trivia, politics, movies and classic rock, but I'm lost on recent TV, music, and a long, long list of other things, so we need some hip young guys and girls to keep in the game. Last night at the Irish Rover on Broadway, however, was not our night. I doubt if we scored even in the top 10, but it was made interesting not in the least by the presence of perhaps Colorado's most famous gay 'escort' and masseur, Mike Jones. Jones is not that tall, and affects the pumped up look of 50s icon Steve 'Hercules' Reeves, or more accurately the look of the cartoon ads for the after of the 98 pound weakling with sand kicked in his face now in a builder's body, even down to the hairstyle. He's OK looking, I guess.

He proceeded to ask 8 questions about the sexual preferences of disgraced Colorado Springs Evangelist Ted Haggard (Pastor Ted) which I cannot repeat here because my mother might read this. Not actively disgusting but I was not alone in the bar wanting to get back to mundane, non sexual trivia. A copy of his slightly less than bestselling book, I Had to Say Something: The Art of Ted Haggard's Fall, was a prize for the various bonus questions, I guess second prize was two copies.

There was definitely a yin/yang going on in the bar--two Jägermeister girls were there in tight clothes pumping up interest in drinking that vile Kraut liqueur. I'm not sure they were that successful (I got a hat, a lanyard and a blinking button and I didn't have to even take a sip) because they were up against the celebration of kissing (etc.) and telling on the in the closet religious leader. I have no interest in defending Haggard-- I don't see him as a hypocrite as much as I see him as a human who had turned to religion in an effort to be good or 'normal' but wasn't able to keep his pants on, apparently like a few of the world's clergy. However, I don't actually see the joy in Haggard's continuing humiliation nor do I admire in any way Jones' revelations: Not brave, not interesting, not anything other than the basest form of gossip. And what of Jones' character, or, in the parlance of today's psychotherapists, his self image? Is he a better guy for selling his story like he used to sell himself? I have to think no. Hardly anyone talked to him at the bar. What the heck were you going to say?

Warmies Getting Violent

On a narrow, leafy street in Northwest Washington, where Prius hybrid cars and Volvos are the norm, one man bought a flashy gray Hummer that was too massive to fit in his garage.So he parked the seven-foot-tall behemoth on the street in front of his house and smiled politely when his eco-friendly neighbors looked on in disapproval at his “dream car.”It lasted five days on the street before two masked men took a bat to every window, a knife to each 38-inch tire and scratched into the body: “FOR THE ENVIRON.”“The thought of somebody vandalizing it never crossed my mind,” said Gareth Groves, 32, who lives with his mother in a three-story home in the 4300 block of Brandywine Street NW in American University Park. “I’ve kind of been in shock.”Now, as Groves ponders what to do with the remains of his $38,000 SUV, he has been the target of a number of people who have driven by the crime scene in his upscale neighborhood and glared at him in smug satisfaction.“I’d say one in five people who come by have that ‘you-got-what-you-deserve’ look,” said his friend Andy Sexton, 27, who is visiting from Arkansas and has been helping Groves deal with fallout from the crime. Brian at IowaVoice comments...

Not to throw around the word “terrorism” lightly, but this is, basically, what it is: violence in order to further a political agenda. Someone in the article used the word “hate-crime”. Well, in a normal world where all things are equal, it would be. I mean, if they had done this to his truck and wrote some kind of racial or gay slur on it, then liberals everywhere would be howling for justice, no matter what kind of vehicle it was. But since it was an attack on an SUV, and not some minority, and because it was an attack for the environment, then that’s perfectly ok. Don’t forget the fact that to liberals hate-crimes can only be against minorities like gays or blacks, not against anyone else. And it certainly can’t be against any of their pet causes, either. Even though hate was clearly at play here, it is a non-factor to them, because it is something that they, at their core, believe in.Question....what is " consumer excess "

This Day in American History

On this day in 1879, Doc Holliday, who was dying slowly from consumption, shot and killed his first man outside Holliday's saloon in Las Vegas, New Mexico, namely ex Army scout Mike Gordon, who was shooting randomly into the building. Sounds like justified homicide to me--defense of others. Holliday would abandon his business to his partner the next year and join his friend Wyatt Earp in Tombstone, Arizona, and two years later shoot and kill his only other victim in the OK corral shootout. Thus, one of our most notorious gunmen, fearless Doc Holliday, shot two guys in his entire gunslinging career.

Yesterday Craig Silverman on the local radio was being predictably anti-gun and stupid and hoped that we would not return to the 'horrible' old days of the wild west. We would love to return to the low crime rates of the wild west. An armed society is a polite society.

Thought of the Day

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Good News from Iraq

Our military announced the capture on July 4, 2007 in Mosul, a top al Qaeda in Iraq leader, Khaled Abdul-Fattah Dawoud Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, also known as Abu Shahid. Wow, that's quite a name. And another one bites the dust (a kenning for death from the Iliad).

The photo is of U.S. Army Soldiers from Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division as they receive notification that their routine patrol in the Dora area of Baghdad, Iraq, is finished July 8, 2007. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Jacob H. Smith)

This Day in the History of Evil

On this day in 1969, Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) got away with manslaughter when he drove his mother's car off the Dike Bridge and into shallow Poucha Pond on Chappaquiddick Island, due East of Martha's Vineyard, and killed Mary Jo Kopechne. Wait, it's worse. There is evidence from John Farrar, the rescue diver who recovered the body, and from the undertaker Eugene Frieh, who prepared the body for shipment for burial (there was no autopsy performed), that Ms. Kopechne was alive for a while after the plunge, perhaps two hours, breathing air trapped in the back of the car, and suffocated rather than drowned when the CO2 level in the air pocket got too high. The drawing is from the inquest which didn't result in even a finding of negligence. Valiant rescuer Kennedy walked back from the accident passing two houses with people in them and their lights on to the place where the party (six single women, six married men, plenty of alcohol) had taken place, but did not report the accident to police for at least 11 hours. Neither Ted Kennedy, the least of the Kennedy brothers, nor any of Kennedy's friends at the party thought twice, apparently, about leaving Ms. Kopechne in the water for that long. Prompt notification of the proper authorities might well have saved her. John Farrar thinks he could have rescued her if he had known of the accident shortly after it occurred.

A less rich man would have gone to prison. Kennedy has been reelected to the Senate at least 6 times since. Sometimes I despair at the lack of real Justice in America and the idiocy of the electorate.

Thought of the Day

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

This Day in American History

On this day in 1864, Confederate President Jefferson Davis replaced General Joe Johnston with General John Bell Hood as commander of the Army of Tennessee and the defender of the vital hub of Atlanta. He did it in none too kind a telegram either: "You failed to arrest the advance of the enemy to the vicinity of Atlanta, far in the interior of Georgia, and express no confidence that you can defeat or repel him, you are hereby relieved from command of the Army and Department of Tennessee, which you will immediately turn over to General Hood." Thus, Davis sealed the already leaning that way fate of the Confederacy. Tyros of the Civil War think and talk about Gettysburg as a turning point. The cognoscenti know it's the fall of Atlanta that kept Lincoln in office and bent on surrender Democrat McClellan out. Hood did as he was told, and went on offense, disastrously, three times and ruined the army so that Atlanta fell before the elections rather than after, as savvy Joe Johnston would have accomplished.

Thought of the Day

Monday, July 16, 2007

How is this Possible?

Sorry, this site has been a Paris Hilton free zone for ever, but I go to the Superficial each Monday--he's pretty funny--and I noticed what would ordinarily pass as before and after breast enhancement photographs, but the 'smaller' one (on the beach) is the after.

Is this what they mean by a woman's magic? Are bras just that good now adays? Isn't it a law of physics that matter is neither created or destroyed? So can Paris Hilton defy the laws of physics?

Lone Gunman Shot in Colorado Statehouse

About an hour and a quarter ago, an apparently well dressed nutcase with a gun was shot and killed on the first floor of the Colorado capitol building (about three blocks from where I work) when he refused to drop his gun. He was near the temporary office of my old friend and fellow ex-Denver prosecutor Bill Ritter, our new Democrat governor, so it is reported that he might have been after him. Bill's OK. Whew! The dead gunman reportedly claimed to be the Emperor there to take over the government. It is also reported that the Governor hid under his desk. That hurts a little. Maybe they told him to do that.

UPDATE: The guy was indeed in a tuxedo and he didn't ever pull his gun, a Smith & Wesson in .357 magnum, but merely showed it to security personnel and then walked towards one of them defying orders to stop. Poor, delusional guy. But I feel just as bad for the guy who had to shoot him. Must be rough.

Good News and Bad News

The good news is that it appears that North Korea's only nuclear power plant (pictured left), which produces plutonium, is indeed shut down. again. Good job Christopher Hill.

The bad news is that North Korea is probably continuing a program of uranium enrichment, again.

A first step will be the North declaring a complete list of its nuclear programs to be dismantled. However, the North has yet to publicly admit to embarking on a uranium enrichment program — which the U.S. in 2002 alleged it had done to spark the nuclear crisis. Washington wants the facilities disabled by the end of the year so they cannot be easily restarted, Hill said.

This Day in American History

On this day in 1945, the United States exploded the first atomic weapon, in the desert of Alamogordo, New Mexico at what is known as the Trinity site. It was a 19 kiloton weapon. The reason we measured atomic weapon yields back then in kilotons of TNT is that earlier, in May, the Manhattan project workers had piled up and exploded 100 tons of trinitrotoluene near the Trinity site and then compared the nuclear explosion to that earlier chemical explosion. The first nuke was 19 190 times bigger. You can still see both craters on the desert floor. This was an important change in armament, but we are all thankful we have not yet begun to use these weapons routinely, even though we got all ready to.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Friday Movie Review (quite late but a twofer)

Went to see the new Harry Potter which was pretty good and the fourth version of Bruce Willis as John McClane, Live Free or Die Hard, which was OK. These are both right wing movies. Let's go with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenixfirst.

This was based on the the fifth of the septology and the book was long, convoluted and eminently forgettable, for me. It was as if the words went into my brain through my eyes and then just evaporated. All I could recall was there was a series of fights in the Ministry of Magic and someone important got killed. But the movie pared down the lengthy mess into a long but not tedious movie--straightforward, easy to access and quite good fun. Well done, director David Yates whose only other work I've seen is made for TV (HBO) The Girl in the Cafe which was OK. And I'm OK with the fact that Yates in in pre-production of the next, penultimate Potter book, Half Blood Prince. That was another book that I devoured but remembered little except someone important gets killed, by Snape of all people.

The political resonance of the story for me came from the dream casting of Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge. She was so good, it is impossible now to imagine anyone else playing the role. Umbridge is a bureaucrat toady as nanny a lefty in charge as could exist. The ministry she works for is in denial about the return of he who is not to be named, and she sinks lower and lower in ethical behavior all for the proper education of the children, including, real torture, a network of informers and civil rights violations (like in the Soviet Union, or Nazi Germany). Oh, and the the ever multiplying prohibitions. The more law the less justice, I always say. It is with real justice that she is overthrown in the end.

Harry actually does some acting, as he has to. The story is wholly about his inner struggle--why is life so unfair, am I a good person, will I stay one, what is it about smokin' hot Asian women? are all questions Harry is struggling with and it would take too long to show his struggle any other way than by his showing his emotional turmoil in his face and voice. He does some good stuff, and the other children turned young men and women who have inherited an early gravy train seem to rise to the occasion.

Of course it all turns out well, with a good new female character or two and the next two (at least) installments already in the pipeline. And a good time was had by all.

Not quite so much with Live Free or Die Hard, which I mightily wanted to like. Cyber terror. Not really that scary to me. I'm sure it's my generation's notorious inability to use computers. There were some scary operatives, drop outs from Montreal's Cirque deSoleil no doubt, but they were horrible shots, yet again, with no fire control or ability effectively to use full auto weapons, few of which I recognized, I'm sorry to say. Let's recount a few examples. The likable dweeb from Galaxy Quest and Dodgeball is the sidekick here. He has failed to blow himself up, so the acrobat assassin has a full auto weapon with suppressor and telescopic sight across the street on the chest high parapet. An easy shot, no more than 50 yards away, if that. So what does he do? He puts the first shot high and right by about 6 inches. That's some shootin' Tex. Then he and the other furiner hose down the city with clip after clip after clip (oh, sorry, magazine--pretend I said magazine) and not a single round hits home. Please. I've never shot full auto but I promise you , if I did, one of my shots will score from a 30 round mag from 50 yards. I actually think it would be difficult to miss with every single shot.

Then there's McClane and his invulnerability. I can forgive the baling out of the car at 5o. I can forgive the completely shrug it off asskicking he takes from yet another smoking hot Asian. I can even forgive that one second he's dying from a sucking chest wound and then, after taking another point blank to the high right, lung, he's smoking a cigarette, sitting up in the back of an ambulance in absolutely no hurry to get to the hospital. Iron man is putting it mildly (I was kidding about the cigarette--he has no visible vices and there is not the hint of a whisper of the scent of a love interest for him). But I can't take it that he takes on an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter while driving a big rig and takes out the plane unscathed. Yeah, that's highly likely.

Len Wiseman is the director and he did the Kate Beckensale vehicle Underworld movies, and nothing else before this. It's exciting if implausible action, usually involving a flying threat which is no threat because the door gunner wasn't in country 40 years ago, if you know what I mean.

This has to be the last of them. It's fun, but the series ran out of gas at the end of the third one (like with James Cameron sequels) and without a major shift in emphasis, anything after this would necessarily suck. Which this one didn't completely.

Kevin Smith is self deprecating comic relief. Willis' all grown up daughter is OK, but not great.

The F-35 Willis destroyed had two 25 mm automatic cannons. Right. The last time one of our planes had more than one gun was over Korea half a century ago. Lot of good the extra gun did the pilot here. And what was with the externally mounted missiles. Stealth! All the missiles are inside. Do they think we don't know about these things?

So what's so right wing about it?--being committed to doing the right thing no matter what the cost, or even likelihood of success. That's conservative values. I liked that part a lot. Oh and that Willis grunted with satisfaction when he killed one of the bad guys. Right wing all the way.

This Day in the History of Evil

On this day in 1099, Christian soldiers of the First Crusade entered Jerusalem by force and put nearly the entire population to the sword--killing all the Muslims, Jews (many burned alive as they took refuge in Synagogues) and even the few Christians left in the city. Not the most civilized or holy of acts. Indeed, the Muslims were the more civilized back then, with better universities, science, medicine and rules of warfare than the Europeans. How the times change.

Thought of the Day

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Black Eye for Richmond Virginia Public School

Or rather the lack of one.

The Binford Middle School in the fan in Richmond (Floyd and Vine--due north of Hollywood Cemetery) issued a certificate of 'graduation' for the 8th graders heading to high school with the picture of Karl Marx instead of Frederick Douglass. Oopsie. Well, they both had beards. Although Marx, a German Jew, was a shade or two lighter than emancipation icon and former slave Douglass. Close enough, I say. You can see how easy it would be to confuse them.

I am a product, I am semi-proud to say, of Richmond private schools. I knew what Douglass looked like. Not like Marx.

Another Silly Democratic Talking Point

I was listening to my old boss and fellow ex-prosecutor, Craig Silverman, part of the nearly unlistenable team of Caplis and Silverman (Craig's OK; one note Samba, self righteous Caplis is the problem) on the radio (KHOW 630 am from 3 to 6 pm) this past week, waiting for Hugh Hewitt to come on and up the radio host IQ by about 50 points. Diomedes tells me that Craig is not as liberal as his on air persona seems. I don't know; he certainly has all the liberal talking points down. I sometimes have to turn him off, and not just for the inappropriate sexual innuendo he injects at the drop of a hat.

One that he was spouting last week was the one that rankles us chickenhawk armchair generals--the war in Iraq has weakened the military. What bs! When we manly men lift weights, we tear the muscles--it hurts and later our arms and chest feel like lead, but we get stronger and its the only way--no strain, no pain, no gain, as the Marines say. Using the military to fight in a war costs money and the lives and suffering of some of the members of the military, but rather than get weaker, the veterans are tougher, stronger, more savvy and all round better for their experience. The military gets better and stronger with proper use, not worse. Anybody with the barest of knowledge of even just 20th Century military history would know this. Craig, if you really believe what you say, you are a fool.

Oh and Craig, impeachment is not a general recall based on popularity--there has to be an underlying crime--a High Crime or Misdemeanor, in fact. Your clinging to the completely discredited idea that Dick Cheney somehow orchestrated Richard Armitage's talking about Ms. Plame to Woodward and Novak is distressing evidence of either your lack of knowledge on the subject or a stubborn willingness to be ignorant. I bet you still believe Joe Wilson was telling the truth. Sad, indeed.

Bastille Day

Allons enfants de la patrie,

Le jour de gloire est arrivé !

This was the day in 1789 when the French overthrew the repressive monarch in a broad and at first very successful revolution. Unfortunately, it devolved into a government execution spree, a terror and then a dictatorship with near constant warfare for a quarter century after; and then they restored the monarchy. How very French. Pity, really.

Friday, July 13, 2007

Report on American War Dead

Bloody month again for American troops during the 30 day period June 4, 2007 to July 3, 2007 as reported by the Department of Defense in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Here's the breakdown.

In Afghanistan five were killed in a helicopter crash (probably shot down) and four were killed from small arms fire including RPGs. So a real war is still going on there. Still waiting for the Taliban to come out and fight like men in a big way. Two Americans were killed by IEDs. Hope that number doesn't go up. And a light colonel died under mysterious circumstances. The total was 12.

It was much worse in Iraq. 88, mother of God, 88 people were killed by IEDs. 21 were killed by small arms again including RPGs. Only four were killed in combat operations in al Anbar, so the pacification of that large province is for real as marines killed in combat operations in al Anbar used to give IEDs a run for the money and have at least low 20s on this list. This is excellent news (especially since my cousin is going over there in a matter of months). Only one was killed in an accident (a major who crashed his jet). Four died of non combat incidents and one from a non combat illness. One died from indirect fire and one, a light colonel, by chance, died under mysterious circumstances. We lost, in addition to the colonels, a couple of majors, a captain and a 1st Lt. Only one woman I could identify, Sgt. Trista Moetti, died from an IED.

So the total for Iraq was 122 and the grand total was 134. Not much better, or worse, than the last few months, but for al Anbar, but if we could solve the IED problem, the combat deaths would sink to near utter insignificance. Since I look on the IED as a stand off proxy for stand up fighting, I don't see this as an increasing struggle although the next few months will be more instructive.

Jeff Goldstein Shifts Priorities

Local wunderkind blogger Jeff Goldstein over at Protein Wisdom, explains why he is taking a break from blogging (again). It turns out that the apparently monomaniacal moonbat Deb Frisch has harrassed him into silence. Ouch.

Victor D. Hanson: The New York Times Surrenders

On July 8, the New York Times ran an historic editorial entitled “The Road Home,” demanding an immediate American withdrawal from Iraq. It is rare that an editorial gets almost everything wrong, but “The Road Home” pulls it off. Consider, point by point, its confused—and immoral—defeatism.

Money Quotes: VDH response in BOLD

3. “While Mr. Bush scorns deadlines, he kept promising breakthroughs—after elections, after a constitution, after sending in thousands more troops. But those milestones came and went without any progress toward a stable, democratic Iraq or a path for withdrawal. It is frighteningly clear that Mr. Bush’s plan is to stay the course as long as he is president and dump the mess on his successor. Whatever his cause was, it is lost.”

Of course there were breakthroughs: most notably, millions of Iraqis’ risking their lives to vote. An elected government remains in power, under a constitution far more liberal than any other in the Arab Middle East. In the region at large, Libya, following the war, gave up its advanced arsenal of weapons of mass destruction; Syria fled Lebanon; A.Q. Khan’s nuclear ring was shut down. And despite the efforts of Iran, Syria, and Sunni extremists in Jordan and Saudi Arabia, a plurality of Iraqis still prefer the chaotic and dangerous present to the sure methodical slaughter of their recent Saddamite past.The Times wonders what Bush’s cause was. Easy to explain, if not easy to achieve: to help foster a constitutional government in the place of a genocidal regime that had engaged in a de facto war with the United States since 1991, and harbored or subsidized terrorists like Abu Nidal, Abu Abbas, at least one plotter of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Qaida affiliates in Kurdistan, and suicide bombers in Gaza and the West Bank. It was a bold attempt to break with the West’s previous practices, both liberal (appeasement of terrorists) and conservative (doing business with Saddam, selling arms to Iran, and overlooking the House of Saud’s funding of terrorists).Is that cause in fact “lost”? The vast majority of 160,000 troops in harm’s way don’t think so—despite a home front where U.S. senators have publicly compared them with Nazis, Stalinists, Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge, and Saddam Hussein’s jailers, and where the media’s Iraqi narrative has focused obsessively on Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo, and serial leaks of classified information, with little interest in the horrific nature of the Islamists in Iraq or the courageous efforts of many Iraqis to stop them.5. “Americans must be clear that Iraq, and the region around it, could be even bloodier and more chaotic after Americans leave. There could be reprisals against those who worked with American forces, further ethnic cleansing, even genocide. Potentially destabilizing refugee flows could hit Jordan and Syria. Iran and Turkey could be tempted to make power grabs.”

The Times should abandon the subjunctive mood. The catastrophes that it matter-of-factly suggests have ample precedents in Vietnam. Apparently, we should abandon millions of Iraqis to the jihadists (whether Wahhabis or Khomeinites), expect mass murders in the wake of our flight—“even genocide”—and then chalk up the slaughter to Bush’s folly. And if that seems crazy, consider what follows, an Orwellian account of the mechanics of our flight:read the whole thing.

Nifong Disbarred........That's a start !

N.C. bar issues order disbarring NifongThe Associated PressRALEIGH, N.C. --The North Carolina State Bar on Thursday issued a formal order disbarring former district attorney Mike Nifong for his handling of the now-discredited Duke lacrosse rape case.Nifong must surrender his law license to the bar no later than 30 days from when he is served with the order. He also must pay costs associated with his June ethics trial.A disciplinary hearing committee decided to disbar Nifong after finding he had committed at least two dozen violations of the state's rules of professional conduct. The violations included lying to the court and withholding DNA evidence that showed genetic material from several males - though none from a Duke lacrosse player - had been found on the accuser.The accuser had told police she was attacked by three men at a March 2006 lacrosse team party where she was hired to perform as a stripper.Nifong secured indictments for rape, kidnapping and sexual offense against three lacrosse team members, but the rape charges were dropped in December after the accuser changed a key detail of her story, and state prosecutors who later took over the case at Nifong's request dropped the remaining charges in April.North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper called the three players who had been charged innocent victims of a "tragic rush to accuse."Nifong resigned as Durham County district attorney last month.Roger, isn't there a crime here, in what he did ?

Krauthamer Makes Sense About Iraq

As usual, Charles Krauthamer makes a lot of sense about the wobbly Republicans in the Senate (Voinovich, Domenici, Snowe, Lugar, and even Warner) and their seeming to join in with Harry Reid's irrational declaration that the new surge tactics have failed when it is demonstrable that they, having just started, are clearly working. Money quote:

What is not understandable is the vote of no confidence they are passing on Petraeus. These are the same senators who sent him back to Iraq by an 81-0 vote to institute his new counterinsurgency strategy. A month ago, Petraeus was asked whether we could still win in Iraq. The general, who had recently attended two memorial services for soldiers lost under his command, replied that if he thought he could not succeed he would not be risking the life of a single soldier.

Just this week, Petraeus said that the one thing he needs more than anything else is time. To cut off Petraeus' plan just as it is beginning -- the last surge troops arrived only last month -- on the assumption that we cannot succeed is to declare Petraeus either deluded or dishonorable. Deluded in that, as the best-positioned American in Baghdad, he still believes we can succeed. Or dishonorable in pretending to believe in victory and sending soldiers to die in what he really knows is an already failed strategy.

This Day in American History

On this day in 1863, in several cities in the North, but it was worst in New York, the Yankees stopped basking in the glow of the victory at Gettysburg and rioted in protest of the war in general and the draft in particular. The focus of the mobs' wrath was the black population of the various cities, because it was rightly felt that slavery was the cause of the Civil War. In New York hundreds were killed or injured and millions of dollars worth of damage done to buildings.

Back

This Day in the History of Evil

On this day in 1943, the German offensive in the battle of Kursk in the Ukraine ended and for the rest of the war the Germans retreated before the Red Army. The Panzer pincer plan was a good one and similar ones had been successful all during 1941, but the start of Operation Zitadel was delayed for weeks, giving the Soviets time to beef up defenses enough to stop the German attempt to link up and create a cut off pocket. Until Gulf War I, this was the largest tank battle in history but none of the armored vehicles in the photo above are tanks, but rather Sturmgeschütz IVs and SdKfz 250s. Massed attacks like this by armored vehicles supported by motorized troops were the essence of the blitzkrieg tactic created by Heinz Guderian in 1939. Guderian questioned the need to go on the offenzive on the Eastern Front and may have contributed to its failure by helping to delay its start.

Thought of the Day

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

This Day in American History

On this day in 1861, Union troops under McClellan and Rosecrans defeated the Confederate troops under Pegram and Garnett in what was then still western Virginia, at the battle of Rich Mountain. The total casualties were small, under 150, but the Confederates (555 of them) under Pegram had to surrender shortly thereafter. This was part of a string of Union victories which caused West Virginia to secede from Virginia and out of the Confederacy. It was also another victory laurel McClellan plucked off the temples of the commander who deserved it, Rosecrans.

Thought of the Day

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

On this day in 1940, the air battle over England, called the Battle of Britain, began and lasted for about 3 and 1/2 months. Although the Brits had far fewer fighters (around 600 in July) they were pretty good ones, Spitfires (Mark I and IIs) and Hurricanes, which had a better turning radius than the primary German fighter, the Messerschmitt Me 109, although they lacked the 20mm cannon the 109 had. The German fighters had to come over the channel and had about 30 minutes of flight time over England before they had to book back to France. The Brits also had radar, which made a surprise attack very unlikely. Still, by attacking the radar sites with the hopelessly slow Junkers Ju 87 Stuka and then bombing the airfields, along with the attrition of fighter on fighter, the Luftwaffe hurt the RAF, at no small cost. Indeed, a decision to move the British fighter airfields back to Scotland was about one week from being implemented before the Germans stopped the successful tactic and switched in early September to the ineffective bombing of cities, particularly London.

Light Posting Excuse

Sorry for the absence. My son, who usually is pretty good with these things, fixed the computer until it didn't work anymore, and we were away in New York and Vermont at my only nephew's wedding, which was a lot of fun. He apparently has married a great girl and all is right in the world. I'll get to posting when the computer is repaired or replaced.

Monday, July 09, 2007

NY Times..Fred Thompson Has " Trophy Wife "

AS the election of 2008 approaches with its cast of contenders who bring unprecedented diversity to the quest for the White House, the voting public has been called on to ponder several questions: Is America ready for a woman to be president? What about a black man? A Mormon?Now, with the possible candidacy of Fred D. Thompson, the grandfatherly actor and former Republican senator from Tennessee, whose second wife is almost a quarter-century his junior, comes a less palatable inquiry that is spurring debate in Internet chat rooms, on cable television and on talk radio: Is America ready for a president with a trophy wife?The question may seem sexist, even crass, but serious people — as well as Mr. Thompson’s supporters — have been wrestling with the public reaction to Jeri Kehn Thompson, whose youthfulness, permanent tan and bleached blond hair present a contrast to the 64-year-old man who hopes to win the hearts of the conservative core of the Republican party. Will the so-called values voters accept this union?Mr. Thompson, who needs the support of early primary voters, is expected to formally announce his candidacy any day now. Meanwhile, much of the brouhaha around Mrs. Thompson, 40, is being stirred by photos of her in form-fitting gowns circulating on the Internet.“You have a situation where a candidate happens to have an attractive wife, therefore it’s open season for smutty thoughts and lowbrow humor, and no concern for the fact that this is a wife and mother, a professional woman?” said Mark Corallo, a former Justice Department official who is a consultant and the chief media adviser to the Thompson campaign. “One picture on the Internet and all of a sudden she’s reduced to being a bimbo?”On a morning cable news show last month, Joe Scarborough, the commentator and former Republican congressman from Florida, compared Mrs. Thompson to a stripper. The comment came after a segment on the use of stripper poles in exercise routines, but it still stung. It is hard to imagine a man, however handsome, suffering similar insult.THE term “trophy wife” was coined by Fortune magazine in 1989 and immediately entered the language. Although it often has a pejorative spin, the term originally meant the second (or third) wife of a corporate titan, who was younger, beautiful and — equally important — accomplished in her own right, which describes Mrs. Thompson.

Now let’s talk about the form-fitting gowns. Or let’s not. The clear implication is that Jeri Kehn is some sort of a trollop who married for power on the basis of her beauty, which is ridiculous. Saulny faults the Thompsons for not officially distributing her resume, but anyone with access to Google knows that Mrs. Thompson worked as an attorney and media consultant in DC, as well as a staffer at the RNC and on the Senate Republican Caucus. She’s no bubble-headed bleach blonde, but someone with her own record of accomplishment — even if the New York Times and Susan Saulny apparently can’t find it with both hands and a flashlight.That’s what makes the “trophy wife” slam so obnoxious. Saulny even tries to weasel past her use of it by telling readers that Fortune Magazine’s original definition included accomplishment, but that probably lasted as long as that particular issue did on the newsstands. When people talk about trophy wives now, they mean arm candy — beautiful but vapid social climbers with nothing more to offer than cleavage. Jeri Kehn Thompson does not qualify as a trophy wife. Does Susan Saulny qualify as a trophy reporter?DOH !!!!!Just curious.....is Bill a trophy husband ?? LOL !!!!!!!

Friday, July 06, 2007

Hey Al, Oldest DNA Ever Recorded Shows Warmer Planet....

Scientists who probed two kilometers (1.2 miles) through a Greenland glacier to recover the oldest plant DNA on record said Thursday the planet was far warmer hundreds of thousands of years ago than is generally believed.DNA of trees, plants and insects including butterflies and spiders from beneath the southern Greenland glacier was estimated to date to 450,000 to 900,000 years ago, according to the remnants retrieved from this long-vanished boreal forest.That contrasts sharply with the prevailing view that a lush forest of this kind could only have existed in Greenland as recently as 2.4 million years ago, according to a summary of the study, which is published Thursday in the journal Science.The samples suggest the temperature probably reached 10 degrees C (50 degrees Fahrenheit) in the summer and -17 C (1 F) in the winter.They also indicated that during the last period between ice ages, 116,000-130,000 years ago, when temperatures were on average 5 C (9 F) higher than now, the glaciers on Greenland did not completely melt away."These findings allow us to make a more accurate environmental reconstruction of the time period from which these samples were taken," said Martin Sharp, a glaciologist at the University of Alberta, Canada, and a co-author of the paper."What we've learned is that this part of the world was significantly warmer than most people thought."In a separate paper, also published in Science, European experts said they had analysed the world's deepest ice core, enabling them to reconstruct patterns of warming and glaciation over the past 800,000 years.The 3,260-metre (10,595-feet) core was drilled into the East Antarctica icesheet at the Franco-Italian base, Dome C. The drillers, gathered in a venture called the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA) stopped just 15 metres (48.75 feet) short of the bedrock.Using traces of the hydrogen isotope deuterium in air bubbles trapped in the ice layers, the scientists built a record of greenhouse-gas concentrations over the aeons, which in turn provides a record of temperature.They found the temperature varied widely, by as much as 15 C (27 F) over the 800,000 years. In the last Ice Age, which ended around 11,000 years ago, the temperature was 10 C (18 F) lower than today.The EPICA team had previously analysed the Dome C core to a depth equivalent to 650,000 years ago.

You think they will read this report on stage at one of the warmie's concerts this weekend ?

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

This Day in American History

On this day in 1776, a year and a half after a shooting war had broken out between the American colonies and Great Britain, the Continental Congress in Philadelphia accepted the Declaration of Independence, drafted by Virginian Thomas Jefferson (and edited by Ben Franklin) and our rocky course was set. It is a near miracle that 8 years later, we emerged independent of Britain.

Good Political Cartoon

This Day in the Long History of Regrettable Necessities

On this day in 1940, the British dealt with the remnants of the French fleet to prevent the Germans from obtaining a surface fleet all at once. Most of it went well but not at the Oran, Algeria, port of Mers-el-Kebir, where the bulk of the French fleet lay at anchor. Acting on Churchill's orders, Captain Cedric Holland made the French commander four very reasonable alternatives: join British naval forces in the fight against Germany; hand the ships over to British crews; disarm or scuttle them; or sail them to the French West Indies and turn them over to the Americans. The French refused all the offers and the British forces under Admiral Somerville, including the doomed ships Hood and Ark Royal, opened fire, destroying two older battleships and damaging some of the newer class. The photo is of the Bretagne, one of the older ones, which blew up on the third British salvo.

Thought of the Day

The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair.

Monday, July 02, 2007

More Doctors Than A Wednesday Afternoon Foursome

Despite the popular, but mistaken, theme in news coverage of Islamic terrorism that all Muslim terrorists are disaffected youths--poor, hopeless, disenfranchised, and desperate--we're learning that the B team of al Qaeda in Incompetence was full of highly educated people including now five doctors. Not exactly the Lower Depths there.

The explosives in London were packed into two Mercedes Benz's rather than a Ford Escort or Morris Mini or whatever the poor people drive in England. Did they buy them with no down payments or credit checks? Let's all agree to strike 'poverty' from the things that cause Muslims to turn terrorist. Deal?

Thought of the Day

I think one of the great problems we have in the Republican Party is that we don't encourage you to be nasty. We encourage you to be neat, obedient, loyal and faithful and all those Boy Scout words, which would be great around a campfire but are lousy in politics.

This Day in American History

On this day in 1937, Amelia Earhart and her navigator Frederick Noonan fail to find Howland Island in the Pacific, in their attempt to fly around the World west to east, and in some radio contact with the Coast Guard cutter Itasca, they report they are low on fuel and not in sight of any land. Neither they nor any trace of their Lockheed Electra plane were ever recovered.

Sunday, July 01, 2007

Short TV Post

I'm trying to like HBO's new show from the creators of Deadwood, John From Cincinnati, but right now I find it more interesting than satisfying. There will soon be nowhere to go with the extraterrestrial/angel theme. The quotidian details of a surfer dynasty/family are nothing compared to that. It is also disconcerting to see Deadwood guys show up here--Charlie Utter, Ellsworth, the Ripper like homicidal Francis Wolcott, and the county agent, are all here as dope dealer Steady Freddy (Dayton Callie), Vietnam Joe (Jim Beaver), doctor Michael Smith (Garret Dilahunt) and hospital inside counsel respectively. Very disconcerting.

But, man, does Rebecca De Mornay look good. I'll give it to the end of the season.

UPDATE: But I forgot to say that the music was great--somethiing in Spanish from David Byrne, Peter Gabriel's In Your Eyes and the end credit music, by my favorite band after the Beatles and Stones, the Yardbirds, Over Under Sideways Down. Very nice indeed.

This Day in the Long History of American Victories

On this day in 1898, Teddy Roosevelt and the volunteer cavalry known as the Rough Riders, stormed, on foot, Kettle Hill and then helped take the San Juan Hill complex outside Santiago, Cuba in what was really the only big battle of that short war.

The defeat on the ground outside Santiago caused the Spanish fleet to attempt an unsuccessful breakout two days later, where 5 of the 6 Spanish warships were sunk or grounded (only the Cristobal Colón survived the breakout but later was scuttled to escape destruction by the American battleship Oregon).